Our experts

The IoD's Policy team oversees the development of the organisation's advocacy work on a full range of issues affecting business from trade to taxation, enterprise to education.

Here you will find the profiles of the key individuals in the IoD policy and parliamentary affairs team. They are always keen to hear the views and experiences of IoD members.

Allie Renison, Head of EU & Trade Policy

Allie Renison is the Institute of Directors’ Head of EU and Trade Policy, she leads on devising recommendations and representing the voice of members on EU policy matters both to Westminster and Whitehall and with European institutions. She provides the link between business and Government on increasing international trade and has authored a number of reports on trends in both trade and trade policy, as well as running a number of trade missions for IoD members around the world every year. She also routinely provides advocacy for the IoD on a range of regulatory issues in Brussels.

Allie joined the IoD in April 2014.

Prior to this, she was Research Director at Business for Britain, the campaign focused on renegotiating the UK's relationship with the EU. Allie has previously advised a number of parliamentarians in both Houses on EU legislative issues, with particular focus on trade and employment policy areas.

Allie holds a Masters Degree in the political economy of emerging economies in the post-Soviet space.

Claudia Catelin, EU & Trade Analyst

Claudia joined the IoD in August 2017 to work on EU and trade policy.
Previously, she worked at the American Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and in the Board of Directors at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. She also worked for Newsfirst as French news editor.
Claudia has Australian and British citizenship and a Master of Science in European Studies from the London School of Economics. She is fluent in French and Spanish.

Donjeta Miftari, Head of Communications

She leads the IoD's press office by representing the views of IoD members across national and international news outlets as well as coordinating all media campaigns for the IoD's policy research.

Donjeta joined the IoD in 2016. Prior to this, she worked with the government of Kosovo and co-founded a tech startup. She has a BA in Economics and Politics fro the University of Kent.

Euan Holmes, Press Officer

Euan works in the press office to ensure that the views of members are represented in the media, and that the IoD’s research into public policy gains the coverage it merits.

Euan joined the IoD in 2017. Before joining the team, he worked in policy for a leading public health campaign charity. He has a First in English from Clare College, Cambridge.

Kamile Stankute, Parliamentary Affairs Officer

Kamile joined the IoD after graduating from King’s College London with MA in Politics and Contemporary History. Her role is managing day to day relations with MPs, government departments and assisting with policy developments and research.

Kamile has previous experience in public affairs, interning at agencies and in-house. Prior to joining the IoD, she spent 6 weeks at HM Treasury as a researcher, where she used unpublished Treasury documents to produce a report on the 1988 Budget.

Sophie Breeden, Campaigns & Projects Manager

Sophie works across IoD campaigns and projects reporting into both the policy and events departments. At present, much of her work focuses on the Inclusive Business strand of IoD content, and she is the day-to-day manager Campaign Manager for the Mental Health & Wellbeing in the Workplace campaign.

Sophie is also responsible for the planning and delivery of all policy events and manages all travel and logistics for the policy team as well as content marketing channels for the department.

Sophie is based remotely in Shrewsbury, Shropshire and spends one day a week working from the IoD's West Midlands office.

Before joining the IoD, Sophie spent a number of years working for a speaker bureau, getting under the skin of the corporate events market. After a short spell in conference production, the policy team and the content-led events offering here at the IoD are what attracted her to the organisation.

Sophie graduated from Royal Holloway, University of London, in 2009, where she read English and Drama.

Dr. Roger Barker, Head of Corporate Governance at the Institute of Directors (UK) and Managing Director of Governomics Ltd, a corporate governance advisory firm.

Dr. Barker previously served as the IoD’s Director of Corporate Governance and Professional Standards between 2008 and 2016. He is a UK Member of the European Economic and Social Committee (the EU advisory body), Honorary Associate at the Centre for Ethics and Law at University College London and a visiting lecturer at Saïd Business School, Oxford, and Cass Business School, London.

Dr. Barker is the holder of a doctorate from Oxford University
and the author of numerous books and articles on corporate governance and board
effectiveness, including: ‘Corporate Governance and Investment Management: The
Promises and Limitations of the New Financial Economy’ (Edward Elgar, 2017), ‘The
Effective Board: Building Individual and Board Success’ (Kogan Page, 2010), and
‘Corporate Governance, Competition, and Political Parties: Explaining Corporate
Governance Change in Europe’ (Oxford University Press, 2010). A former
investment banker, Dr. Barker spent almost 15 years in a variety of equity research
and senior management roles at UBS and Bank Vontobel, both in the UK and
Switzerland.

Tej Parikh, Senior Economist

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from University College London, and a Master’s degree in International and Development Economics from Yale University.

Prior to joining the IoD, he worked as an economic analyst at the Bank of England in roles across monetary and financial policy. Subsequently, he moved to Cambodia where he was a journalist focusing on economic and private sector development for a national newspaper. He has since been a freelance political risk consultant and journalist, covering Europe and Asia in particular.

He has published for numerous international media outlets including Foreign Affairs, the Guardian, and The Diplomat, and is currently an active member of London’s Great Debaters Club.